War and Dissent, Part I

As Republicans like to say, 9-11 changed the nation and Bush’s presidency. Indeed it did. Bush became president on that day. Until 9-11 his legitimacy was in question. On 9-11, America needed a president. We forgot about the stolen election and turned to our president for leadership. And, I will say, George Bush did well in the aftermath of 9-11. He helped the nation honor the dead and recognized the threat that terrorism posed to America and all societies. He had the world with him in that time of grief and anger.

And then he promptly led America into paranoia and fear. His characterization of international terrorism is such that Americans should “bear any burden, pay any price” (to borrow President Kennedy’s words) to defeat that evil force. Under his leadership America has become a fearful, angry giant lashing out at the world in a quest for safety and security. Bush’s doctrine of attacking other nations has left much death and destruction in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those piles of twisted metal and shattered concrete, the bodies friends and families on the street are as anguishing to Iraqi and Afghan survivors now as the ruins and death at the World Trade Center were to Americans on 9-11.

The 9-11 attacks, for all their horror, do not warrant a “war” nor does America need a “war president”. Those concepts are convenient constructs that give Bush unfettered authority to do whatever he wants and to deflect all criticism in the name of winning the war and securing our homeland. What the 9-11 attacks warrant is an aggressive policy of working with other nations to identify, track and disrupt terrorist cells and organizations. It made sense to attack the plotters and their hosts in Afghanistan tone alternative would have been to seek the plotters’ extradition but that lacked the drama, satisfaction and economic opportunities of military action). Effective action against al-Qaeda and its allies will sometimes require military force but this non-state terrorism is not easily or effectively deterred with conventional forces.

The US certainly did not need to invade and occupy Iraq to fight terrorism. Iraq is a sideshow in the war on terror because Iraq has little or nothing to do with the terrorists who have attacked America and other western nations. Iraq is a war Bush and his cronies wanted to fight. The 9-11 attacks gave them just the opportunity they needed. They hijacked Americans’ patriotism in pursuit of their own, not the national, interest. And now that they are mired in a shooting war, they rely on Americans’ unquestioning support of our military to shield them from all criticism. I call that Patriotic Abuse. The administration conflates loyalty to the nation and support for its ineffective and counterproductive policies. Questioning the policy means disloyalty.

That’s bullshit. There is no more fundamentally American value than the freedom to question actions taken in our name. This is especially true when our leaders attack and destroy other nations and their people. Sometimes, that kind of action is unavoidable. But Iraq was anything but unavoidable. The international community had done an effective job of defanging Saddam Hussein. He was no threat to America and not much of a threat to his region. He certainly did not possess the weaponry that justified the war. And even if it was a fine gesture to liberate Iraqis from his brutal regime, America has fallen well short of providing the security needed for a successful post war transition. Questioning unnecessary war is just one of the many benefits of American democracy. It is also essential if we are to keep that democracy. In these times, Americans should well remember Benjamin Franklin’s description of the government created by the newly written US Constitution: “A democracy, if you can keep it.”

Three years after 9-11, I think that the greatest threat to America is George Bush’s promise of endless war. War that will drain our economy, slowly bleed our military, tarnish America’s reputation in the world community, breed more hatred and distrust of America and destroy the open, democratic society that has been this nation’s unique contribution to the world. Why shouldn’t I question the politicians who are damaging this nation? How can I remain loyal to the idea of America and be silent?